The Upper East Regional Minister, Honourable Mark Owen Woyongo has stated that the government is committed to delivering quality education to all its citizenry especially those in rural areas as a sure way of reducing poverty.

The Government’s plan is to address the challenges in management, structure and content of education.
 
The regional minister stated this in a keynote address at Nayagenia in the Kassena-Nankana East district during a homecoming ceremony of the Nayagenia Development Association (NDA). He said the government will continue to upgrade and rehabilitate school facilitiesto promote teaching and learning.
 
Honourable Woyongo said the Capitation grant, the School Feeding Programme and subsidy for basic school pupils such as provision of free school uniform and exercise books will be continued as interventions to increase enrolment and student retention in schools.
 
He noted that it takes time and a lot of processes for government's designed development projects to reach the grassroots and commended the NDA for instituting its own development agenda saying the projects initiated by the association sends a signal to the government about the priority needs of the Nayagenia community.   

The regional minister proposed the establishment of an education endowment fund to propel students from the community to higher institutions of learning.
 
He also pledged to work with the Volta River Authority to provide a three-phase transformer to meet the electricity needs of Nayagenia while plans are underway to improve the road network in the town.
 
The Chairman of the NDA, Mr. Ben Rogers Bagnabu said the homecoming event is to create room for citizens of Nayagenia both at home and outside to meet and familiarise with one another so that they will be able to recognise and assist their kind anywhere they meet.  
 
Mr. Bagnabu disclosed that the NDA met in 2006 and planned the execution of a Community Health Compound and a library project which are at various stages of completion.
He thanked all individuals and groups that supported the association and asked more philanthropists and citizens of the area to offer more assistance for the completion of all projects.
 
He called on the Ghana Education Service [GES] and the community must find the causes of poor academic performance of the Nayagenia Junior High School and suggest immediate solutions to reverse the situation.
 
Mrs. Agnes Atagabe, Acting Upper East Regional Director of education in a word to the community called on parents, the GES and the community to foster strong mutual collaborations for the total development and upbringing of the pupils since the education of a child is a shared
responsibility.
 
In a related development, the Upper East regional minister Mr. Mark Woyongo earlier joined the chiefs and people of the Navrongo traditional area to celebrate their annual Fao Festival.

Source: ISD  (Peter Atogewe Wedam , Bolgatanga)

 

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